On this Holiday Season in 2011 I want to thank our team, clients, and partners for helping us make 2011 a record year at Patti Engineering as we surpassed Six Million Dollars in Sales. From the beginning, Patti Engineering has been built by getting repeat business from a core group of outstanding clients. Our partnerships and expertise with some outstanding products and companies have helped us deliver value to those clients. I feel truly blessed and humbled to be surrounded with such an outstanding team every day. Our team is second to none in their expertise, drive, and focus on solutions to our client’s problems.

In celebrating our accomplishments this past year, I am very proud to reflect back on just two short years ago, when like many companies, 2009 was all about survival. The lessons we learned during the “great recession” were invaluable and have helped to take us where we are today. If you would like, please read on to see five valuable lessons we have learned:

• Focus on what you know best: We have focused on our invaluable partnerships with Siemens and Mitsubishi and for the most part exclusively worked with these two PLC platforms. With non-PLC platforms, we focus on only products we know best such as embedded C, Steeplechase VLC, Iconics, Indusoft, and .NET.
• You must have the right people on the bus and they must be autonomously driven: The sentence above steals from two books that have had a profound influence on our organization. “Good to Great” by Jim Collins looks at organizations that have made the leap to excellence, while “Drive” by Daniel Pink examines how employees of the 21^st century are motivated.  Autonomy is what a team of highly educated engineers at companies like Patti Engineering desire. They do not want to, nor function best by punching a time clock, having their computers monitored, or having someone constantly looking over their shoulder. Instead they want to focus on what they know best, getting our clients issues solved in the most efficient and effective way possible.
• Find out why your clients work with you: We did a survey of our clients and found the reasons they work with us is: our collective intellect; being a trusted advisor; thoroughly researching solutions; and being responsive. Our collective intellect and expertise with certain products leads our clients to us initially. As a trusted advisor, we will tell a client if a project is not in our wheelhouse and recommend an expert in that area if possible. Thoroughly researching solutions means that the second person in command at Patti Engineering, Dave Foster, reviews all proposals to ensure that we have a thorough understanding of the scope and have well defined our deliverables to our client. Being responsive means that clients can reach us 24/7 when their issues can’t wait until the next day’s business hours.
• You have the right to say no: Not all clients are created equal and we have the right to decide which clients we want to work with. I have talked to many other companies that when given an opportunity to propose a project, will always do so. This is a very dangerous path for an organization. If our expertise is not a fit for the project, or the customer is not a fit for our organization, the project is not worth it at any price. It will end up being a drain on our team and will take away from the projects and clients that we work best with.
• Honest Self Reflection: the most important lesson that we have learned is that we must keep improving every day. On an individual level, we all must look in the mirror and give ourselves an honest critique. We must continue to learn and improve our organization. Once the honest improvement starts at the top, it will filter through to the rest of the team.

Thanks again for letting us share these lessons with you and please feel free to give me feedback or additional lessons that you feel are valuable. Please have a great Holiday Season in 2011. We cannot wait for 2012 to start so that we can strive to make Patti Engineering into the best control systems integration company in the world!

Last Night the Tiger’s had a nice come from behind 8-7 victory over the reeling Minnesota Twins to complete the first third of the season at 28-26. If you want to know how a Tiger player’s stats project out for the season, take his stats today and multiply by three. Here are some observations from the first third of the Tiger’s 2011 campaign:

• In 2010, the average AL team scored 4.45 runs per game, which was the lowest output since 1992. This year, the average is 3% lower at 4.31 runs per game. The .253 league wide batting average is the lowest it has been since 1972!
• The Tiger’s are scoring 4.33 runs/game, but giving up 4.50. History shows that the Tiger’s are a bit lucky to be 28-26 and giving up more runs than you are scoring will more than likely lead to a sub .500 record by the end of the year.
• The Tiger’s in 2010 stood at 28-26 and were in second place, 3.5 games behind the Twins. They have the exact same record in 2011, again are in second place, but this year they are 5 games behind the Indians.
• Under Jim Leyland, the Tigers have a .537 win% in the first third of a season, .567 in the second third, and .461 in the last third.
• Second Base:
  • Our projected starting 2B (Carlos Guillen) has not played yet this year and likely will not play before the all star break.
  • Our opening day 2B (Will Rhymes) held the position through the end of April then was demoted to Toledo.
  • May brought Scott Sizemore, who went 3-4 in his first game. A sub .200 average in his next 16 games got him sent to Oakland where he is starting for Sacramento. Batting over .400 at AAA this year seems to indicate that he will eventually hit Major League Pitching and the Tiger’s were too impatient with him.
  • When Sizemore was traded on May 26, Ryan Raburn was named the starting 2B. This is despite the fact that he had started 47 games at 2B in his Tiger Career and according to Baseball Info Solutions would cost the Tiger’s 25 runs over full season with his poor fielding at that position. He has started 2 of 5 games since that proclamation. With his .197 batting average, he does seem fit for the role.
• Jhonny Peralta (310/370/536) and Victor Martinez (301/360/493) have been very good pickups by Dave Dombrowski. Peralta provides only average defense, but not many teams get that kind of production from a SS. V-Mart has caught 30% of his games giving Avila rest against tough LH starters.
• Give the Tiger’s credit for being patient with Avila. In 2011, he has already more HRs (8 v 7) and almost as many RBI (29 v 31) compared to his poor sophomore showing in 2010.
• Austin Jackson is having a poor sophomore year, but the Tigers must be patient with him. He plays too good of defense and has too much of a track record in the minors to think that the poor start in 2011 is anything more than an aberration.
• The starting pitching has been stable. Until Phil Coke twisted his ankle, the Tiger’s had been trotting the same 5 guys out there. The Starters overall are 20-16 with a 3.94 ERA and have been averaging 6 1/3 innings pitched per start.
• The Bullpen has been a struggle with a 5.26 cumulative ERA. Ryan Perry, Brad Thomas, and Joaquin Benoit have all been disappointing. The bullpen needs to get settled or it will be a LONG season at Comerica.
• For the Tigers to win the division, the following needs to happen:
  • The Bullpen needs to get settled with guys having assigned roles and performing well when called on.
  • The 2B situation needs to be rectified. Ryan Raburn is NOT the answer (as he can’t field the position) and I don’t think Danny Worth will hit enough to be the answer. Maybe a healthy Carlos Guillen helps. Maybe they recycle someone off of the scrap heap. Maybe Will Rhymes comes back up and hits more like he did last year.
  • Magglio has to return and be productive.
• It is Leyland’s last year under contract, and I don’t see him returning unless he wins the division. Dave Dombrowski, the GM, is under the same situation. I can see the Tiger’s giving Dombrowski a pass based on the stockpile of Arms he has built up in the minor leagues.

Monday January 10, 2011 (Game played in New Orleans, LA):

• Oregon (2) 31 – Stanford (4) 29: In a game for the ages, Oregon got the win on a last second 35-yard field goal by sophomore Rob Beard. The game was much closer than the earlier contest this season when Oregon blew out the Cardinal by three touchdowns on October 2 (52-31). In that October 2 game in Eugene, the Cardinal were outscored 28-0 in the second half thanks in part to three costly turnovers. Tonight the Cardinal protected the ball with no turnovers. QB Andrew Luck had over 300 yards through the air for the Cardinal, but in the end the Ducks, lead by Sophomore QB Derron Thomas, who had 222 yards passing to go along with 55 yards running, came out victorious.

Summary:

• Looking at the real life 2010 college season, Stanford may have been the best team in the country. The predictor in the Jeff Sagarin ratings, which is the basis for the lines at many books, indicates this. They had one bad half of football all season (October 2, 2010 in Eugene).
• In a playoff, rarely does the best team win, but in a playoff, every team that deserves a shot to win a championship gets that shot.
• I feel bad for the kids on the TCU team that rolled over every opponent this season and outscored their opponents by an average of 41 to 12. They were 13-0, but because they did not play in a “power” conference, did not get a shot to play for the championship.  
• Some people will question why the simulation did not have Auburn in the Finals. In real life Auburn was 14-0, but an interesting fact is that seven of those games were won by 8 or less points. Without Cam Newton, Auburn may well have had four losses. In my simulation, I had Cam Newton hurting his ankle. In any playoff, luck plays an important factor, and Auburn would not have been able to survive an injury to Newton.
• One thing that I very much dislike about College Football is the weak non-conference schedule that most teams play in order to protect their hopes of going undefeated. For instance Auburn played Arkansas State, Louisiana Monroe, and Chattanooga, Oregon played New Mexico and Portland State (winning 72-0 and 69-0). In a playoff situation, where a conference winner is guaranteed a spot, power teams would more than likely be scheduling other power teams for their early season non-conference schedule as they would want to prepare conference play.
• The BCS Championship game was not even shown on network TV as ESPN carried the game. Could you even imagine the attention that a 16-team playoff would draw to College Football?
• Presently, the NCAA is so against a playoff that they will not even allow Electronic Arts to program on into their Video Game. Hopefully in the next decade, the NCAA will see the light.

Saturday January 1, 2011 (both games played in Pasadena, CA):

• Stanford (4) 38 – Arkansas (8) – 21: In a battle between the two quarterbacks who will likely be the first two taken in the NFL draft, Andrew Luck proved better. Stanford held a slim 17-14 lead at half time, but pulled away in the second half. Two second half interceptions by Ryan Mallett hurt Arkansas.
• Oregon (2) 30 – TCU (3) 21: TCU hung gamely holding a 14-13 half time lead, but the superior talent of Oregon won out in the end.  Sr. wide out Jeff Maehl had a big game with 9 catches and two long TD grabs. Sr. Quarterback Andy Dalton of TCU played well, but the Horn Frogs could never get a ground game going and were held to 30 yards rushing for the entire game. 

Summary:

• It will be an all Pac-10 final as the overall records by conference for the tournament will end up (ordered by Sagarin’s Conference Strength):
  • Pac-10 (2 schools): 7-1
  • SEC (3 Schools): 3-3
  • Big 12 (1 School): 0-1
  • Big-10 (3 Schools): 1-3
  • ACC (1 School): 1-1
  • Big East (1 School): 0-1
  • Mountain West (1 School): 2-1
  • WAC (1 School): 1-1
  • Conf USA (1 School): 0-1
  • MAC (1 School): 0-1
  • Sun Belt (1 School): 0-1
• The Finals will be held Monday Night January 10^th at the former site of the Sugar Bowl (New Orleans, LA). This is the EXACT same date that the 2010 BCS championship game is being played.
• By hosting the opening round at the higher seeded team’s home site, and then having four schools playing at the former sites of the Orange, Rose, and Fiesta Bowls, the host committees actually saw attendance go up over what a two school event would have had. More Hotel Rooms were booked, and more money was spent at local establishments. The sites will rotate every year, so that next year Pasadena will host the national championship game and New Orleans will get two Quarter Final Games.
• There would still 20 bowl games that hosted teams 17-56 to fill the Christmas vacation with meaningless College football games.
• I just read that Andrew Luck is staying at Stanford. I wish him luck with that decision. An injury or a bad season next year will cost him millions of dollars.

Friday:

• Oregon (2) 48 – Boise St (7) 44 (Tempe, AZ): Boise St, who according to the composite computer ratings is the third best team in the Country, lost a close one to Oregon. Both offenses moved up and down the field, but a last minute TD on a scramble by quarterback Darron Thomas brought Oregon the victory.  

Saturday:

• TCU (3) 24 – Ohio State (6) – 7 (Miami, FL): TCU proved their legitimacy as a three seed by soundly defeating Ohio State 24-7.  The TCU defense held Terelle Pryor and his mates to under 200 yards of total offense.  TCU was lead on offense by 158 yards rushing by 5’ 9” sophomore running back Ed Wesley. TCU protected the ball and did not have any turnovers, where as Ohio State Junior QB Terelle Pryor, dealing with off field issues, threw 3 picks.
• Stanford (4) 33 – Va Tech (12) 21 (Tempe, AZ): Va Tech played hard and at half held a 21-14 lead. Stanford Junior Quarterback Andrew Luck took over the second half leading three long scoring drives and the Stanford defense completely shut down Va Tech and Sr. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor.
• Arkansas (8) 35 – Auburn (1) – 24 (Miami, FL): In the only upset of the day, Arkansas beat bang up Auburn 35-24. Auburn Junior Quarterback Cam Newton tried to play on a severely sprained ankle but had lost most of his running ability. Forced to throw the ball and become a pocket passer, Newton struggled completing less than 50% of his passes and throwing a couple of picks. Junior QB Ryan Mallett, who was knocked out of the previous loss to Auburn, played a very effective game completing 22-31 passes for 259 yards.

Summary:

• Three of the top 4 seeds have made the semi finals, with Arkansas, at #8, being the surprise team remaining.
• The Big Ten conference has no teams in the final four. Stanford and Oregon represent the Pac-10, Arkansas the SEC, and TCU the Mountain West.
• TV Ratings were off the charts!!

Next Weekends Matchups to be played in Pasadena, CA (The Rose Bowl Location), times EST:

• Saturday 3pm (Pasadena, CA) – Arkansas (8) vs Stanford (4)
• Saturday 8pm (Pasadena, CA) – TCU (3) vs  Oregon (2)

Thursday:

• Ohio State (6) 28 – LSU (11) 21: Ohio State used the home field advantage to pull out a very close 28-21 win over LSU. LSU, a seasoned team having played 6 games during the season against top 30 teams during the season gave Ohio State all they could handle, but at the end Terrelle Pryor broke of a 24 yard TD with 5 minutes to go and the OSU defense stood.
• Oregon (2) 48 – Miami-OH (15) 10: This game was 34-0 at halftime and Oregon used the second half to rest most of their starters. About as close to a bye as a team can have.

Friday:

• Fla Int (16) 21 – Auburn (1) – 34: Florida International, who at one time during the 2010 campaign was 0-4, was actually winning this game 14-13 at halftime. A severe ankle sprain to Cam Newton in the first quarter seemed to take the wind out of Auburn. Cinderella’s slipper fell off in the second half as Barrett Trotter (Newton’s backup) kept possession of the ball for nearly 22 minutes in the second half completing 3 long TD drives.
• Boise St (10) 35 – Oklahoma (7) – 34: In a rematch of the infamous 2007 Fiesta Bowl that put Boise St on the map, The Broncos once again got the best of the Sooners. The Broncos went for it on 3 critical fourth downs during the game avoiding having to have snake bit Kyle Brotzman attempt a field goal (he was 5-5 on extra points). A touchdown pass from Kellen Moore to Austin Pettis with 37 seconds to go tied the game. Relief came over the Bronco fans when Brotzman made the extra point.

Saturday:

• Va Tech (12) 31 – Wisconsin (5) – 28: In the NCAA basketball tourney, it seems like every year at least one 5 seed is upset by a 12 seed. The NCAA football tourney proved the same. Va Tech, who started the season 0-2 with loses to Boise St and James Madison continued their hot steak with their 12th straight win 31-28 on the road at Wisconsin. A last second drive lead by Wisconsin QB Scott Tolzien finished short of the End Zone.
• Mich St (9) 17 - Arkansas (8) – 38: In a lopsided affair, MSU was never close. The Score was 21-0 at Halftime as Jason Mallett chewed up the MSU secondary in the first half.
• Connecticut (14) 10 – Texas Christian (45): TCU seemed hell bent on proving to everyone how good they are by pummeling the Big East Champion Connecticut Huskies 45-10. The Score was 35-10 at half time as the Horned Frogs rolled up nearly 350 first half total yards.
• Central Florida (13) 7 – Stanford (4) 41: The Cardinal rolled all over the UCF 41-7. Andrew Luck put the Stanford up 28-0 at halftime and then did not play beyond the first drive of the second half. UCF was never in the game.

Summary:

• Seeds 1-4 (Auburn, Oregon, TCU, and Stanford) all won, three of them by blowouts. Auburn had the closest game and may have lost Cam Newton for the rest of the tournament.
• There were 2 upsets as Boise St (10th) and Va Tech (12th) each won on the road against higher seeds.
• MSU and Wisconsin loses leave the Big 10 with only Ohio State left. Both Pac-10 teams (Oregon and Stanford) advanced easily. The SEC has two remaining teams (Auburn and Arkansas) having split their two games against Big 10 teams.

Next Weekends Matchups (notice 2 games played in the previous Fiesta and Orange Bowl Locations):

• Friday 7pm (Tempe, AZ) - Boise St (10) vs Oregon (2)
• Saturday 1pm (Miami, FL) – Ohio State (6) vs TCU (3)
• Saturday 5pm (Tempe, AZ) - Va Tech (12) vs  Stanford (4)
• Saturday 8pm (Miami, FL) – Arkansas (8) vs Auburn (1)

In the NCAA, there are 3 different playoffs for the lower ranking divisions which pit the top 16 teams in a 4-round playoff.  The 2009 Champions were Villanova in Div FCS (1-AA), Northwest Missouri State in Div II, and Wisconsin Whitewater in Div III.

So why is it that in the very highest level of amateur football we have, we let the championship be decided by sports writers?  Texas Christian University (TCU) won every game they played this year but will not be allowed to play for the Championship because they do not play in one of the six “Power” Conferences. How good are the power conferences? Va Tech, the “Power” Conference ACC Champion is ranked 13th in the BCS Standings, and Connecticut, the “Power” Conference Big East Champion is not even in the top 25!

I have heard the arguments against the college playoff:

• There is more money in having 35 meaningless bowl games:
  • Are you kidding me? take March Madness and multiply it by 3 and you get the excitement (and revenue) of a College Football Playoff. Besides, much like the NIT in Basketball, we can ask the Not Invited Teams to play in meaningless bowl games like the Beef’O’Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg
• Fans and Alumni will not travel for more than one game:
  • First off, a team will probably not make it every year (like they do now) and even with the multiple games you will find plenty of Alumni to travel. Selling tickets to the games will not be a problem
• It is too much to ask the student athletes to do with their college studies:
  • Under a playoff system, only 8 teams will still be practicing after this weekend (as it is now, 62 teams are still practicing). Many more student athletes will have more time to study under a playoff system.
• It would take too long:
  • Starting a 16 team playoff this weekend would put the Championship game on Saturday January 8^th, two days before Oregon plays Alabama for the mythical championship we have now.

All that I want a simple 16 team playoff similar to the other NCAA divisions. Here’s how I would do it:

• There are 11 conferences in the FBS NCAA division, the 11 conference winners qualify automatically.
• You would then have 5 wild card teams. For my purposes I will use the 5 highest non conference winning teams as determined by the BCS rankings.
• I will get grief for having 3 SEC team and 3 Big-10 teams in the playoff, while only having Oklahoma from the Big 12 (Missouri is very good). Maybe it would be better to limit it to two teams per conference, but in any case it is much better to argue over the 15^th and 16^th teams into a playoff than telling TCU they are not good enough to win a National Championship even though they have pounded everyone.
• The teams will be seeded 1-16, for the opening weekend the higher seeded team will be playing at home. This way their alumni would only have to travel 3 times if the team makes the Championship Game.

In this Blog, I am going to update a fantasy playoff as it would happen. I am going to use computer rankings, simulation, imagination, fingers, toes, and my 8-yr old to come up with the Individual Game Winners which will lead us to a mythical national champion (just like now)! I hope in my lifetime that I see this type of playoff.

Here is the Schedule for the opening weekend of the NCAA FBS Playoffs:

Thursday 12/16:

• 7pm EST kickoff: LSU (wild card – 11^th seed) at Ohio State (wild card – 6^th seed)
• 10pm EST Kickoff: Miami Ohio (MAC – 15^th seed) at Oregon (Pac 10 – 2^nd seed)

Friday 12/17:

• 7pm EST kickoff: Fla Int (Sun Belt – 16^th seed) at Auburn (SEC – 1^st seed)
• 10pm EST Kickoff: Boise St (WAC – 10^th seed) at Oklahoma (Big 12 – 7^th seed)

Saturday 12/18:

• 1pm EST kickoff: Va Tech (ACC – 12^th seed) at Wisconsin (Big 10 – 5^th seed)
• 4pm EST Kickoff: Mich State (Wild Card – 9^th seed) at Arkansas (wild card – 8^th seed)
• 7pm EST kickoff: Connecticut (Big East – 14^th seed) at TCU (Mntn West – 3^rd seed)
• 10pm EST Kickoff: UC Fla (Conf USA– 13^th seed) at Stanford (wild card – 4^th seed)

Check back for updates on how the tournament progresses.

                                                                              Starters:         Bullpen:

       W-L  RS –RA     HR-SB-AVG/OBA/SLG    W-L- IP-  ERA     W-L-S-ERA

2010: 10-8  84-85     10- 6-278/375/413    4-5-96.2-5.51    6-3-6-2.32

2009: 10-8  102-84     21-12-276/349/432    7-6-103.1-4.62    3-2-4-3.96

2008:  6-12 74 -112    15-10-262/345/404    3-9- 96.2-5.96    3-3-3-5.28

2007: 10-8  86 -79     17- 9-235/313/380    5-2-110.2-3.66    5-6-8-4.68

2006: 11-7  89 -69     30- 5-281/332/496   10-7-107.2-4.01    1-0-5-3.10

The start of the 2010 was a weird success. 14 of the first 20 games the Tigers play are on the road, and as the first inning ends the Tigers were close to ending an 11-day, 11-game, 7,000 mile road trip. I have been keeping my “innings” on the Tigers since 2007 and this was an inning of extremes. The lowest bullpen ERA in an inning, the least amount of HRs in an inning, one of the highest starter ERAs, and one of the highest on base percentages.

The starting pitching struggles hark back to the issues the starters had two years ago, but thanks to a lights out bullpen the team was 10-8 despite being outscored. On offense, the team had their highest on base percentage for an inning since the 4th inning of 2007, but hit only 10 homeruns (only 1 by someone not from Venezuela).

If the Tigers can straighten out their starting pitching, you have to figure they will give Minnesota a run in the division. But ultimately, they are going to have to perform in September. The Tigers under Jim Leyland have folded the last four seasons:

• 2006: The team had a 76-36 record and a 10-game lead on August 7^th, they then went 19-31 the rest of the year and lost the division.  
• 2007: The Team had a 59-38 record which was the best record in baseball and a 2-game lead on July 23^rd. They got swept at Chicago in a double header the next day on route to a 29-36 finish. 
• 2008: After a horrible start, the team climbs back to a 52-49 record on July 23^rd. They were within 5 games of the White Sox. A blown save by Todd Jones against the White Sox starts a 22-39 run to end the season.
• 2009: The Tigers climb to 75-61 on September 6 and open up a 7-game lead after 3 dramatic wins in a sweep at Tampa. They then promptly get swept at KC by the lowly Royals starting an 11-16 finish that culminates in a one-game playoff loss to the Twins.

Analysis of the First Inning:

Starting Pitching: Bonderman and Willis were the big question marks coming into the season and even though neither were lights out, you have to be encouraged that Dontrelle only walked 7 in 17 innings and equally  encouraged by Bonderman striking out 14 and only giving up 13 hits in 15 innings. Verlander has struggled, but he also struggled at the beginning of last year. Porcello is the real concern as he is getting hit all over the ball park (23 hits in 15.1 innings). Scherzer has been terrific, his strikeout rate is down from his rookie year, but this is probably by design as he is concentrating on going deeper in games.

Bullpen: The rigthhanders in the bullpen have been great. The 4 righthanders are combined to give up 41 baserunners in 40 innings with a 1.35 ERA. The lefties in the Pen, Ni, Thomas, and Coke have struggled at times, giving up 42 baserunners in 24 innings, but have held opponents to a 4.09 ERA.

Offense: The team definitely seems to be taking a different batting approach in 2010 as they are being much more patient (2nd in the league in walks compared to 8th in 2010). The hope is that the Homeruns will start coming in greater frequency as the season moves on.

With Guillen going on the DL, the Tigers are now starting 3 ture rookies who have made their debuts in 2010 (Jackson, Sizemore, and Boesch). The true rookies are hitting a combined 295/359/388 (avg/obp/slg), though they had yet to hit a HR. Miguel Cabrerra hitting like he did at the beginning of 2009. Magglio, traditionally a  slow starter, is looking very good and is making Dombrowski look smart for not cutting him last July like so many in this town were demanding it. Johnny Damon is doing exactly what the Tigers wanted by getting on base and setting the table for the Venezuelans. If Santiago and Everett continue as they started, you have to figure Ramon will get the balk of the playing time. The catching platoon has thrown out a lot of runners, but hitting anemically 129/280/194.

In summary, the key to 2010 is going to be getting the starting pitching on track . Obviuosly, a 5.51 ERA from the starters for the whole season will not result in a record at the end that is over .500.

Quit Feeling Sorry for ourselves: Time Magazine ran a several stories last fall on Detroit and the problems it is encountering. One theme in the articles is how the great city of Detroit was ravaged by decline of the auto industry, the over-empowerment of the UAW, and “white flight” after the riots of 1967. A common theme for the national media is to look on Detroit and southeastern Michigan with pity, and many in this area soak up the pity and feel sorry for their plight.

Well, all of these things are ancient history. Almost every city in the US had riots in the late 1960s, yet we are the only region that still talks about how great things were before the riots, like we were destined to this fate 42 years ago?

In addition let’s face facts that the auto industry is all but gone from Michigan along with the 100k+ plus jobs for unskilled laborers. Many industries have come and gone from other regions. How much meatpacking still takes place in Chicago? Where is the textile industry?

Our region has great colleges, a nice cool climate, plenty of fresh water, no worries about wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes or other natural disasters, but we need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves! Few individuals or businesses are going to be attracted to our area until we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and forget about the assent and descent of this region during the 20th century!

Fire up the bulldozers: Blight is bad! Blight gives crack heads and meth addicts a place to hide and hookers a place to work. If a residence is run down or boarded up, the city needs to foreclose on the property. They need to bulldoze the property and setup a land bank that can clean the title and offer the property for resale later.

As big of a Tiger Fan that I am, I could not in good conscience cry too loud when the City of Detroit cleared the old Tiger Stadium. Yes, there were lots of proposals to revamp the property, and for sure there were probably tons of buildings in worse shape that needed to come down. But one more empty blighted building that is brought down is one less eyesore we have to see and one less crack house the Detroit Police have to bust.

Make people feel safe: No one will move into the city until they feel safe. Detroit has a huge crime problem and unfortunately there is no way to turn it around overnight. What you can do, is take a small section of the city, patrol it like crazy, let word out on the street that the book will be thrown at anyone committing a crime in that area. I have heard from old-timers in Chicago that this is what Daley did in the Michigan Avenue corridor in the early 1970′s. I would start with the Woodward Avenue Corridor.

Build more Public Transportation: For a long time Detroit shunned public transportation because they wanted to promote automobile usage. Because the key to growth in the 21st century for our city does not lie in the auto industry, we need more public transportation. One thing that has been proposed (and just recently got Federal Funding) is the light rail to go down Woodward Avenue. I would build this ASAP and push for it to extend all the way to Birmingham.

Entice Young Professionals to live in the city: We spend a lot of political time, money, and resources trying to help our state schools educate our best young people. Unfortunately, many of these bright students graduate from a Michigan college and promptly leave the state. How do you entice young people to live in the city? Help them pay their student loans. I would institute a program where young people could deduct their student loans amounts from their property taxes.

Fix the Public Schools: In a recent test, DPS (Detroit Public Schools) students posted the worst score in the history of the test. The DPS is dysfunctional. Because of the shrinking population, there are way too many half full schools. DPS needs to undergo a consolidation of buildings. In addition, they need to institute a voucher system within the city so that the DPS can have some competition and those bright students who want a better education can obtain it. Thanks to the state appointing Robert Bobb, a turnaround of DPS has started to happen.

Ethnic Diversity is critical for all parts of SE Michigan: Detroit is 82% black and 10% white, If you go up Woodward avenue and get north of 8 Mile (the border of Detroit), you hit Ferndale which is 90% white and 3% black, the next city north is Royal Oak which is 94% white and less than 2% black, just north of that is Birmingham which is 95% white and less than 1% black!

Something is seriously wrong with this. You have generations of kids in Detroit who rarely see white people in their schools. Conversely, in many Oakland County Schools, a black person is a rarity.  Meanwhile, Chicago is 37% Black, 31% White, and 26% Latino which is a good balanced mix. How do you fix this? I am not sure, but it is the toughest and most important issue on this list. Personally I would like to see the religious leaders of both groups get together to address this issue. People in this region need to realize that just because we have different skin tones; it does not make us opponents.

I love Michigan, I love Detroit, and I hope someday my children will be proud to not only say I am from Detroit, but I live in Detroit and it is a great place to be!

Separated by only 4 hours across I-94, the cities are worlds apart. According to www.city-data.com, using 2007 statistics, Chicago has an average income of $45,505 while Detroit is $28,097. Chicago has an average home price of $286,800 while Detroit is $100,351. 33.8% of Detroit lives in poverty compared to 20.5% for Chicago.  The murder rate per 100,000 in Detroit has averaged 41 over the last 10 years, more than twice the rate in Chicago (19).

With this post and my next one I am going to compare Detroit and Chicago, two cities that at one time were similar, but have since grown very much apart. I am going to highlight some of the problems I see with the City of Detroit and the Southeastern Michigan as a whole. I am going to break up my analysis into two posts, because I have many opinions on the subject.  I will apologize now if I offend anyone, please understand that these are only my personal opinions.

Let’s explore the population of each city. Today Chicago has a population of 2,853,000 people (density of 12,569/sq-mi), and Detroit has a population of 912,000 (density of 6,378/sq-mi). Each city reached their peak population in 1950 before the birth of suburbs. Since 1950, Chicago has lost 21% of its population while Detroit has lost a staggering 51%.

Historical Population Density 

As you can see from the chart above between 1950-1990 Detroit and Chicago experienced similar population loses, but since 1990 Chicago has actually added resident since 1990 (+2%), while Detroit has continued in a death spiral(-11%). The death spiral will not turn around anytime soon as new construction single family permits over the last 12 years have averaged 175 per year in Detroit and 1,000 in Chicago.

It’s NOT Jobs within the City?

From 1990 – 2000 Chicago workers LOST close to 70,000 jobs within the city while Detroit workers lost a lower percentage and only 15,000 jobs. Yet the population of Chicago grew by 2%, while the population of Detroit shrunk by 11%. The reason for this phenomenon is that many more Chicago workers are now commuting from the city to a job in the suburbs.

I am reminded of my niece, Allison, who lives in downtown San Francisco near the baseball stadium, yet works for HP about 45 minutes away in the suburbs. Like many young urban professionals she and her fiance enjoy living in an urban setting, have no kids, and do not have time to worry about the upkeep of a house. They can walk or take a cab to a local restaurant and do not have to worry about the legal consequences of having to return home if they have a couple of adult beverages.

My niece Allison’s story would be rare for Detroit. Very few young professionals live in the city. The people in the suburbs only go to Detroit to see a ball game, show, or visit a casino. Young professionals, like my niece who has an engineering degree from Michigan State, are leaving this region in droves.

I grew up in the Baltimore-Washington Suburbs and have through my business travelled to most of the major cities in this country. I can tell you I have never been to an area as dysfunctional as Southeastern Michigan. The City of Detroit and the Suburbs surrounding it do nothing but bicker with each other.

There is so much distrust for the suburbs that a suburbanite, Robert  Thompson, who was educated in Detroit, was going to donate $200 million dollars to the Detroit Public Schools was told to get lost because he wanted too much control of how his money was going to get spent. More recently, this region almost lost its last showpiece event, The North American Auto Show,  when the city fought with the suburbs and state over the much needed redevelopment of the Cobo Center.

I know many of my neighbors in the suburbs, would like to forget about the city of Detroit. But, the city is the heart of this area. Like a human being cannot live without a heart, this region cannot survive without a healthy city of Detroit. It takes my suburban neighbors working with the city, not being elitist. 

Most importantly, it will take leadership in the city government that accepts responsibility, creates a safe atmosphere, and encourages immigration. I love this area, and I sincerely hope in my lifetime we can see a renaissance in Detroit. But hope is not a strategy, so in my next post, I am going to offer some ideas I have on the issue.